It’s a necessary evil. Both a ‘never-ending problem’ and a ‘crucial connection’. The bridge locals love to hate – the Spit.
This year marks 65 years since the second iteration of the controversial crossing was opened in 1958, and nearly 100 years since a built connection between the lower North Shore and its Northern Beaches neighbours was established.
Since that point, the steel and concrete girdler lift bridge has become a key part of one of the 10 busiest roads in New South Wales, with around 64,000 vehicles making their way across each day.
The demand has afforded the crossing a colourful, at times dramatic, history, with traffic-burdened locals calling for the bridge to be expanded, rebuilt, or bypassed almost since its beginnings.
A whole new world
While there were calls for a bridge connecting the Beaches to Mosman and the lower North Shore as early as the 1870s, it wasn’t until 1924 that the first wooden crossing was built – driven by the widespread uptake of the motorcar.
The State Government of the day was unwilling to use general revenue to fund transport infrastructure, and so Manly Council footed the bill, after Mosman refused to contribute.
Following the passing of legislation in 1923, Manly was permitted a £60,000 loan to build the structure, which would be paid off with toll revenue before being handed over to the NSW Government.
The crossing proved incredibly popular, with the loan fully paid off and tolls abolished by 1929.
However, traffic had already become an issue on the small stretch of road, with delays to crossing stretching up to an hour long. And so, by 1939, there were plans for a new, larger steel bridge in the works. Economic difficulties would not see construction begin on the crossing, however, until nearly a decade later.
In November 1958, following delays due to a post-war shortage of resources, the current four-lane roadway flanked by 1.5 metre footpaths was opened.
Fond memories
Long-time Mosman local, Marlene Reid, lived next to the Spit Bridge for 43 years, beginning in 1967.
The history buff has a plethora of stories about the crossing over the years, from the time a driver refused to stop for its opening – becoming stuck on the raising bridge – to the time a disgruntled motorist called in a ‘bomb threat’.
“Another time when they put it up, one of the keys in the mechanics of it broke and they couldn’t get the bridge down. The man who could fix it lived on the other side of the bridge, and they had to get a helicopter to pick him up so he was on the right side to work on it,” she recalls.
Images credit: Mosman Library Services
The bridge played a central role in the take down of notorious bank robber, Hakki Bahadir Atahan in 1984.
Marlene, who along with her family operated a boatshed at the Spit, also recalls the many fishermen that used to frequent the bridge – as many as 50 to 100 with their families on a Saturday night.
Her most dramatic tale, though, is of the time the bridge was the site of a hostage crisis.
On 31 January 1984, 35-year-old Manly local Hakki Bahadir Atahan went on a bank robbery spree in the city, successfully robbing several banks and holding 11 hostages.
After police encircled the criminal at a Commonwealth Bank on George Street, he managed to escape under the cover of five hostages, forcing them to make a getaway in a nearby sedan.
Atahan made the hostage driver speed through police roadblocks and a pursuit ensued for several hours with 39 police cars, a helicopter and water units.
Upon reaching the Spit, police raised the bridge to prevent the criminal from travelling further.
“They had policemen on our roof and down in the grass everywhere,” Marlene recalls.
Detectives approached the car and, following an altercation in which an officer was wounded, Atahan was shot through the car window and died at the scene.
Traffic woes
Even with all the fascinating memories, Marlene is the first to admit the traffic problems of the Spit have only increased over time.
As car usage skyrocketed – with close to 93 per cent of Australians now owning a car – the reversible-lane bridge has become a major pinch point on the main arterial road connecting the Beaches with the city.
The fact that the crossing is raised six times a day on weekdays and eight times a day on weekends and public holidays only adds to the congestion.
In the early 1990s, the concept of a light rail running underneath the water to Manly was first circulated but was quickly abandoned due to cost and logistical concerns.
The traffic woes of the Spit Bridge have seen many solutions proposed to the congestion problem, including the Beaches Link Tunnel.
Then, in 2002 and 2007, the NSW Government twice mooted the idea of widening the bridge to six lanes, but this again was discarded due to expense and modelling suggesting ‘relatively minor benefit’ to the road corridor.
Another idea to construct a higher bridge, allowing for boats to sail underneath, was also disregarded due to the impact on local amenity of the necessary on and off ramps.
The latest solution, the controversial Beaches Link Tunnel, has been touted by the government to reduce traffic along Military Road by a third. However, with the start date of the project delayed indefinitely due to market constraints, relief for local drivers will not be swift.
A POINT OF PROTEST
While the Spit Bridge has not traditionally been a protest site, this changed after several peak hour demonstrations last year brought traffic to a standstill.
The protests, undertaken by climate activists Fire Proof Australia, resulted in the NSW Government making it an offence to disrupt any bridge or tunnel across Greater Sydney. Previously, legislation only applied to the Harbour Bridge.
The controversial changes mean protesting on the bridge now carries a maximum penalty of a $22,000 fine or imprisonment for two years.
“In the short term, there’s not a lot we can really do, apart from trying to have really good public transport and encouraging people out of their cars,” Member for the North Shore, Felicity Wilson, admits.
She says while commuter carparks and on-demand transport services connecting Beaches residents to the B-Line bus service have helped reduce cars on the road, North Shore locals will have to wait for the tunnel to see significant change.
Despite the tunnel plans, Ms Wilson says there will always be a place for the Spit as a local connection between the North Shore and its northern neighbours.
“We’re different communities in a lot of ways, but we are neighbours. We need that connection to each other,” she says.